Blue use golf to bond off field

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There's an old golf expression that goes something like this: Look good, feel good, play good.

Winnipeg Blue Bombers safety Shawn Gallant looked good and felt good yesterday, but we're not sure about the playing part.

Gallant dressed to the nines for the annual Blue Bomber golf tournament at Larters at St. Andrews, using the late Payne Stewart as his fashion motivation. The Ontario native brought out a pink sweater vest, a white dress shirt, white plus-fours, and pink and green Argyle socks for the scramble-format event.

"All my shots have been going straight, all my putts have been going in. Right guys?" Gallant asked the rest of his team on the third tee. "It's ridiculous how good I'm doing right now. I'm even impressing myself. I think I could shoot at least a 25-over myself right now."

Did he say 25 over?

"That's good for me!" Gallant said. "Golfing once a year? That's not too bad!"

So while he might not have been the best player, Gallant certainly was the best-dressed.

"I just try to get a new outfit every time and at least look the part if I can't be the part," he said while munching on some Hooters wings. "The only problem is these wings and these pants. I don't know if they mesh."

Meanwhile, over on the 10th tee, defensive back Kelly Malveaux was showing off his golf prowess, which is comparable to Gallant's fashion sense.

"I haven't got a chance to play with a lot of guys, but I like to say I'm the self-proclaimed best golfer on the team," Malveaux said. "I haven't got a chance to play (Troy) Westwood. Westwood said he won't play during the season."

Malveaux, a left-hander, plays to about a seven handicap. He has squeezed in between 35 and 40 rounds since arriving in Winnipeg for training camp in late May.

"That was before my wife got here," he said. "It's kind of slowed down tremendously now."

There isn't a golf course around that Malveaux won't try.

"I've gotten around," he said. "I've been out to Grand Pines, I've played out at Meadows (at East St. Paul), I played at Bel Acres, but it's my first time here.

"Assiniboine was my camp track. I would get out there and rip out a quick nine."

Malveaux's best rounds this year are a 4-over-par 76 at the Meadows and a 2-over 74 at Assiniboine. He's so serious about the game that he got a 15-minute lesson on Sunday to prepare for yesterday's event.

CFL commissioner Tom Wright was also at Larters yesterday, playing in a power fivesome that included CFL chairman Gene Dunn, Winnipeg Football Club chairman Ken Hildahl and Bombers slotback Milt Stegall.

"This is the great part of the job, playing 18 with Milt," Wright said while devouring an ice cream snack. "He's hit some great putts, made a birdie putt for us on No. 7, and we're having a lot of fun."

The golf tournament is a fundraiser for the club, and it's also a chance for the players to bond away from Maroons Road.

"It's just great for camaraderie, for guys to get a chance to see each other in a different atmosphere than on the football field and in the office," Malveaux said. "You get kind of burnt out. It's kind of refreshing to get somewhere else and see the guys and how they respond in other atmospheres."